Merced Mysteries & Minutia: Welcome signs spur more questions, comments, reflection on Merced history

I am pleased to report I finally have a title for this column.

It came from someone I consider a mentor and who has a way with words like none other. It lived up to my expectation for a title that includes alliteration and properly describes what this column is about: Merced Mysteries & Minutia.

Last week’s column about welcome signs spurred some discussion and follow-up questions on the subject.

Many readers emailed me saying the former Merced County Chamber of Commerce used to take on the task of erecting and maintaining welcome signs and billboards. That organization has since dissolved. Now, the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce exists and has expressed hope to work with other county chambers.

Adam Cox, recently named CEO of the Greater Merced Chamber, said the organization would be happy to get involved with a welcome sign project.

“When people come into the county, we want them to know this is the beautiful place,” Cox said. “First impressions matter.”

Another group of Merced citizens, Paint the Town, is beginning work on a welcome sign project. In May, the group partnered with artists on a small mural at Merced College. The group has approached artist Steve Thomas – who has created artwork under such licenses as Star Wars, Disney, Fox, Star Trek, Hasbro, The Muppets and Marvel – to possibly collaborate on the project. Paint the Town hopes to place welcome signs on every major highway coming into Merced.

Many readers also reached out to me regarding a bit of Merced history. Two giant wood arches that stood over the former Golden State Highway were brought up time and time again. One reader wondered:

What ever happened to those giant wood arches that dubbed Merced the ‘Gateway to Yosemite’?

According to Sarah Lim, director of the Merced County Courthouse Museum, those arches are “long gone.”

Lim has researched the arches and written about them. Here are some things she shared with me:

The arches were erected over what currently is 16th Street in 1927. They were topped with electric signs reading “Merced: Gateway to Yosemite.”

The Elks Club and local businesses funded the project, with the Yosemite Lumber Co. donating the cedar logs.

At least one of the arches was torn down before 1940 when Highway 99 was widened to a four-lane highway. The fate of what was called the “south arch” is unclear, Lim said. It could have been torn down during the widening, but no evidence supports or disproves that theory, she said.

One of the arches was replaced with a concrete one near V Street, but that arch also was torn down, in 1962.

Some residents claim some wrangled metal is left from the arches, but Lim says that was from another historical building.

As far as Lim knows, the neon signs were also torn down when the arches were. “Nothing is left to my knowledge,” she said, “unless someone has them in their garage.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Merced Mysteries & Minutia: Welcome signs spur more questions, comments, reflection on Merced history."